Ayelet Baron, MA Futurist, CreatingIs LLC

Sheila Repeta, MA, Senior Consultant, FutureSense, LLC

This presentation was intended to summarize the results of brainstorming sessions held with participants at the IHA conference.

Presented background and conclusions:

“Safe is risky.”

People like routine, so being a futurist is uncomfortable.

Nothing changes until the mindset changes. We don’t need more programs. We need people to come together.

  1. Bring communities together
  2. Have conversations (2-way)
  3. Bring holistic solutions
  4. Build trust and relationships

In 20th century, we looked at the middle of the bell curve. In the 21st century we need to be on the edges.

Think about the shifts taking place in the world. How much time are you spending connecting with people and having conversations? Learning about what’s going on?

How do we have a shared purpose, not just a shared vision? The hierarchy in organizations is beginning to fall apart. Managers will manage projects, rather than people.

Think of health Literacy as music: You want your audience to be engaged and excited like the audience at a rock concert.

New Model of Leadership

  1. Shared purpose (rather than dictating)
  2. Build community (rather than dictate)
  3. Collaborates (rather than competing)
  4. Two-way conversations (instead of 1-way communication)
  5. Integrating tools in business and part of work (rather than leading with technology) We will integrate what we value (e.g. instant messaging)
  6. Measure impact and makes co-creating (rather than measuring activity)

Need more working out loud: sharing, iterating, legacy, collaborating

21st century is not B2B or B2C; it’s H2H = human to human

We’re going to be looking more at “experiences” rather than products and services.

For the first time in history, we have 5 generations working together. Also, business and society are fusing.

Connectivity can help with equity.

Look for unlikely partners with which to collaborate.

Build communities.

Thriving 21 century orgs:

  1. Have Conscious Leaders
  2. Know their Purpose
  3. Becoming Whole – ask new questions to become whole as an individual and an organization – merge the person with the profession
  4. Integration – How do you integrate what you’ve learned into what you are creating?
  5. New ways of being – how do we work? Outloud? Quietly?
  6. Co-creating – meet the people you need to talk to

Results of sessions

Shared Goals:

  1. Shape the future of health literacy together by creating a shard vision that outlines a path forward.
  2. Listen in and engage in community to generate ideas and prioritize opportunities
  3. Co-create an agreed-upon plan of action

It’s like climbing a mountain: Diligent, intentional purposeful steps move us forward. Look to the side once in a while, and even backward to see where you’ve been. Don’t always look uphill, but look at where you are as well.

What they brainstormed about:

What are the opportunities? How do we remove the barriers? What does success look like in 2026?

Success is not a straight-line route. It’s a squirrely path.

Goals arrived at (words evolving):

We are empowering all people to holistic health and vitality.

Currently we live in a climate of fear and stress, scarcity and competition. We need to build on trust, awareness, and openness.

In 20th century, we started with a structure. In 21st century: We need to start with purpose, and the structure will follow.

We need more awareness of health literacy.

We need to be more open and share information, including failures.

How to remove barriers?

  1. Create awareness
  2. Provide early and professional education (both to professionals and to children for self-care)
  3. Develop skills. Ask questions. Best practices are not always completely successful. Use technology to enable skills and awareness.
  4. Be accountable – not just to the organization but to one another
  5. Connect communities – create unlikely partnerships. Share mindsets and practices internationally
  6. Remove biases from providers and clinicians
  7. Establish equity – Making sure we don’t have haves and have-nots, but that everyone has access to care.

There was an outcry from the audience:

Xanthi Scrimgeour of Communicate Health challenged the framing of the question.

Katina O’Leary of Health Lit Missouri questioned whether we can identify as a single community and have a shared vision. Lots of things happening at the same time: A journal, a credentialing process…

Presenters stressed that this is a conversation. We are ALL leaders. We all have the power to make change. Set up groups to create what you want to create in the world.

Key Success Factors:

  1. Health literacy is fully integrated and implemented in life.
  2. HL is institutionalized (not an add-on)
  3. Everyone is empowered to health and vitality.
  4. There is shared understanding beyond one-way communication.
  5. There is health equity across all demographics.
  6. There’s mutual respect and lack of stigma.

Do we need to brand Health Literacy? HL should be integrated into all curricula. Measure results. We should integrate HL education with technology.

Advocacy: Out of the box community outreach

Creating opportunities: create an umbrella association. Increase PR, track and measure. Focus on better health at lower cost and with equity.

Success factors: Increased PR. Organizations sharing messages accurately.